Posts Tagged ‘Peter J. Whitehouse’

The title of this post is identical to the first half of a title of an article by Jacqui Wise in the news section of the 17 March 2018 issue of the New Scientist. The second half if the title is “shame about the lack of a cure.” The following is directly from the article, “In giving the 1 million Euro prize to four researchers in the UK, Germany, and Belgium, Denmark’s Lundbeck Foundation is likely to rekindle hopes of a cure being within reach. However, translating the work—much of it in animals—into drugs remains as frustratingly out of reach as ever.”

There was a healthy memory post on August 20, 2011 titled “The Myth of Alzheimer’s.” That post was on a book by Peter J. Whitehouse, M.D., Ph.D., and Daniel George, M.Sc.. Dr. Whitehouse had been conducting research on destroying or preventing the amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles that are the defining characteristics of the disease. His research was quite profitable and would have been continuing today, had he not come to the firm conclusion that this research would never pay off. He switched to conducting research on humans suffering from the disease.

The following is taken from that 20 August 2011 healthy memory blog post:
“The thesis of the book is best captured from the following excerpt from page 220, …”It is unlikely that there will ever be a panacea for brain aging and baby boomers should not rely on extraordinary advancements being made in their lifetimes besides the promises of the Alzheimer’s disease empire that make their way into our headlines. Our attention must begin shifting from mythical cure to hard-earned prevention, from expecting a symptomatic treatment for Alzheimer’s disease to choosing behaviors that may delay the effects “of cognitive decline over the course of our lives.” Many, if not most, of the behaviors he discusses have been mentioned and advocated in the Healthymemory Blog.

The book provides a superb tutorial on the history of Alzheimer’s disease from its unassuming beginnings to the development of an Alzheimer’s disease empire. It reviews the science underlying Alzheimer’s disease and the role of genetics in Alzheimer’s disease. It discusses past and present treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. It explains how to identify someone who might need a prescription for memory loss, and how to prepare for a doctor’s visit. It presents a new model for living with brain aging as well as a prescription for successful aging across the life span. An epilogue is titled ‘Thinking Like a Mountain: The Future of Aging.’”

The key behavior for minimizing the risk of suffering the symptoms of Alzheimer’s is living a healthy lifestyle that includes cognitive activity, that builds a cognitive reserve. This blog has many posts on both how to have a growth mindset and the benefits of a healthy mindset. Many people have died with amyloid plaque and neurofibrillary tangles, the defining characteristics of Alzheimer’s. Yet these people never knew they had Alzheimer’s as they exhibited none of the behavioral and cognitive symptoms. The reason given for these individuals is that they had a cognitive reserve. Recent research is finding evidence of how the brain changes as the result of cognitive reserve.

HM has a further conjecture that it is a specific type of processing that is beneficial. This is Kahnemans’s Type 2 processing, commonly referred to as thinking. Type 1 processing, our normal mode, called intuition, occurs quickly and with little attentional demands. As we age we tend to slip into more and more Type 1 processing. Entering “Kahneman” into the search block of the healthy memory blog will yield many posts on Kahneman and his Two Process Theory of cognition.

As the title attests this blog is dedicated to healthy memories. The blog’s subtitle is Memory health and technology. Here technology refers to transactive memory, which is information that is stored outside our individual biological memories. So transactive memory refers to information stored in the memories of our fellow humans as well as in technology. Technology ranges from paper to computers to the world wide web. Transactive memory provides the means for memory growth which underlies memory health. This blog also addresses the negative aspects of transactive memory which range from erroneous information to outright lies. As several posts have indicated, lies on the internet have become a highly profitable business.

The early days of this blog featured many posts on memory techniques under the category mnemonic techniques. Memory techniques specifically improve memory performance while also affording healthy exercise for the brain. If you are unfamiliar with these techniques you might want to peruse and try out some techniques. Practically all known techniques have been posted, so that is why you need to view older posts. For a while meditation and mindfulness was discussed under the memory techniques category, but they have mostly been moved to Human Memory: Theory and Data. Although these techniques are important and beneficial to memory, they are not commonly regarded as mnemonic techniques.

One of the most important posts in this blog is “The Myth of Alzheimer’s.” “The Myth of Alzheimer’s” by Peter J. Whitehouse, M.D., Ph.D. and Daniel George, M.Sc. is an important book. The myth is that Alzheimer’s is a single disease, and that a drug will be developed that serves as a silver bullet and eradicate Alzheimer’s. Whitehouse is no crackpot. He knows whereof he speaks. Note that he has a Ph.D and an M.D. Although he is now working as a clinician, he spent many years at the forefront of research on drugs to mitigate or eradicate Alzheimer’s disease (AD). He was a prominent researcher who was well funded and promoted by drug companies. When he became convinced that a cure for Alzheimer’s was not forthcoming, he turned his efforts to treatment.

What constitutes a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s is the presence of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. However, there are people who are living with these defining features, but who do not have the behavioral or cognitive symptoms of Alzheimer’s. People have died with these Alzheimer features who never knew that they had the disease.

Research indicates that a healthy lifestyle, social activity, and cognitive activity greatly decrease the prospect of suffering any cognitive or behavioral symptoms of Alzheimer’s. The explanation offered for those with the physical characteristics but no cognitive or behavioral symptoms of Alzheimer’s is that they have built up a cognitive reserve.
The healthy memory blog strongly recommends a growth mindset, meditation and mindfulness as being extremely important in thwarting dementia. Central to a growth mindset is to continue learning till the end of one’s life. Beyond thwarting dementia, these activities provide the basis for a fulfilling life.

The vast majority of posts do not deal directly with Alzheimer’s and dementia. This is an exciting era for cognitive neuroscience and this blog endeavors to keep the reader up to date on much of this research. Of course, using technology to foster a growth mindset remains an important topic, and the problem of lies and misinformation being spread by technology is always a concern to the healthymemory blog.

And that article is “After many disappointments, the search for Alzheimer’s drugs is more urgent than ever by Melissa Bailey in the Health Section of the 7 February 2017 issue of the Washington Post. Regular readers of the healthy memory blog should understand why HM is infuriated. See the healthy memory post, “The Myth of Alzheimer’s.” The senior author of this book is Peter J. Whitehouse, M.D., Ph.D.. Dr. Whitehouse conducted research for many years into drugs for Alzheimer’s. He came to the conclusion that effective drugs would never be found, and that research should be concentrated on activities that would prevent, mitigate, or help people suffering with Alzheimer’s. He remains quite confident that a drug research is a dead end. Yet it continues.

The reason for this is money. Money is in the drugs. It is especially infuriating that the government is funding this research. Congress funds this research because it has the appearance of dealing with a serious problem. However, in the highly unlikely case that drugs are found, the drug companies would charge exorbitant fees for them. Remember that the United States is the only advanced country that does not control drug costs, so perhaps the adjective “advanced” is incorrect.

This drug research is targeted at the neurofibrillary plaque and neurofibril tangles that are the defining symptoms of Alzheimer’s. Research on the protein tau, is conducted for its role in creating tangles in the brain. Anti-amyloid drugs will not work. Yet there have been many people who have these defining symptoms, but who never exhibit any of the cognitive or behavioral symptoms of Alzheimer’s. Many people have died, mentally sharp, not knowing that they had Alzheimer’s disease. By far this is the most significant fact about Alzheimer’s that is rarely, if ever, mentioned. Apparently, Melissa Bailey, the author of this article, is oblivious of this fact.

The explanation offered for these individuals who have the physical markers, but none of the behavioral symptoms, is that they have built up a cognitive reserve. Cognitive activity along with a healthy lifestyle greatly decrease the probability of cognitive symptoms. Just having a purpose in life reduces the risk of cognitive decline by half (see the Healthymemory blog post, “Ikigai Cuts the Risk of Alzheimer’s in Half”).

Consequently the healthy memory blog strongly recommends growth mindsets throughout one’s life. Becoming a cognitive couch potato greatly increases the risk of Alzheimer’s (enter “Stupidity Pandemic” into the healthy memory blog) to learn more about these risks.

Although there is a widespread use of technology, this technology is used in a superficial manner (see the healthy memory blog post “Notes on Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age”). One of the best examples of this is the woman was asked what she thought of “Obamacare”? She was against it, but when asked what she thought of “The Affordable Care Act,” she thought that was a good idea.

Given the stupidity pandemic and little critical thinking, the incidence of Alzheimer’s will likely increase. And drugs will not come to the rescue. People need to start thinking, thinking with purpose, and thinking more deeply.